Shame on!

By Chrystos

fake shamen give me some money
I’ll make you a catholic priest in a week
couple thousand I’ll name you pope
of our crystal breakfast cereal circle of healers
Give me some money you’ll be free
Give me some money you’ll be whole
Give me some money you’ll be right
with past lives zooming by your door
Steal from anybody to make a paste-up tacked-on
holy cat box of nothing
I tell you I’m sincere & that excuses everything
I’m a sincere thief a sincere rapist a sincere killer
My heart is pure my head is fuzzy give me some money
& you’ll be clear
Your pockets will be anyhow
Give me a dime I’ll erase your crime
Give me a dollar give me a ten give me a thousand
Fastest growing business in America
is shame men shame women
You could have a sweat same as you took manhattan
you could initiate people same as into the elks
with a bit of light around your head
& some “Indian” jewelry from hong kong why you’re all set
Come on now take something more that doesn’t belong to you
Come on & take that’s what you know best
Whites takes Reds turns away
Listen I’ve got a whole bunch of holey underpants
you could use in a ceremony you can make up yourself
Be a born again Indian it’s easy
You want to buy spiritual enlightenment we got plenty
& if you act today we’ll throw in four free 100-watt lightbulbs
so you can have your own private halo
What did you say? You met lynn andrews in person?
That woman ought to be in a bitter herb stew
I’ll send you lies half-price better than hers
america is starvng to death for spiritual meaning
It’s the price you pay for taking everything
It’s the price you pay for buying everything
It’s the price you pay for loving your stuff more than life
Everything goes on without you
You can’t hear the grass breath
Because you’re too busy talking
About being an Indian holy woman two hundred years ago
You sure must stink if you didn’t let go
The wind doesn’t want to talk to you
because you’re always right
even when you don’t know what you’re talking about
We’ve been polite for five hundred years
& you still don’t get it
Take nothing you cannot return
Give to others give more
Walk quietly Do what needs to be done
Give thanks for your life
Respect all beings
Simple & it doesn’t cost a penny